American Apparel NOTD…Neon & a BIG fail?!

I’m going to start this review with a little bit of a warning… despite the colour of this polish looking lovely it is the worst polish I have used in years. If you know me, and you know my blog I am really not one to completely slate something – the majority of products in my opinion are very, very, subjective and if there’s something I don’t like about a product – chances are it may be that very same thing someone else loves. But when it comes to nail varnish I’m pretty confident that one that leaves you with blue streaky stained nails (yes, despite wearing a base coat) is not going to be a winner in anyones books.

Staining still visible – this is a week after I first removed (lots better than it was, but still)…

I picked up this polish a couple of week’s ago when American Apparel had an offer on with a selection of their nail colours for free. This one came from the store in King’s Cross station, there was a limited selection left as the offer had been really popular, but I liked the look of this colour so was very happy.

I tried it out a couple of days later, loved the application and colour. I used this over a layer of OPI Nail Envy plus my current base coat from Revlon, then popped a coat of Seche Vite on top. Happy days. All looked good (although have to say it’s hardly a neon shade in my book?!).

But the fail came when one morning before work I decided to remove the polish – I used my Bourjous 1 Second remover and thought it was taking a little longer than it normally did so went and got my ‘back up’ of Sally Hansen nail varnish remover – but the blue marks on my nails would. not. budge. They are stained with blue streaks. I used the heftiest remover I could find and nothing. Now running late, I had to leave – heading to work with streaky blue nails. Not a great look.

A week later, following a few more removal attempts and still blue streaks. I heard from a couple of other people they had similar experiences too, so I don’t think it’s just me. And of course I did use a base coat (technically two if you count the layer of Nail Envy) and still left with blue fingers.

So two things I can conclude from this – one, I can see why they were giving these away free! I wonder if they had gone past their usage date (if nail varnish even has one?!) and they needed to shift them? And two – I won’t be trying any more American Apparel polishes again any time soon.

So there we have it – sorry it’s a bit of a rant, I much prefer this blog to be a positive, products I love place – but felt this one deserved a post.

About Jen

Jen started A Beauty Junkie in London in 2009 as a little creative outlet. Since then her obsession with beauty & sharing little snippets of life online has built one of the most established UK beauty blogs.